The First Episode of Amnesia

  It has been fifteen years since the Qing army entered the pass. At this time, most areas of China have fallen to the Qing army, and Emperor Yongli fled to Kunming, where he was protected by Li Dingguo, who controlled Yunnan and Guizhou. The Ming army that still resisted in Sichuan, Huguang, Fujian, and Guangxi also took Yongli as the orthodox emperor and persisted in fighting against the Qing army.

  Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, who had rebelled against the Ming court, had long since died one after another. However, the regular army of the Ming court was not large in number at present, so the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's Western Camp and Li Zicheng's Roaming Troops had become the two main military systems supporting the Ming court. In comparison, the direct troops under the command of the Ming court were relatively weak. The commander-in-chief of the Western Camp was currently Li Dingguo, who was stationed in Yunnan to protect the Yongli Emperor and was enfeoffed as the King of Jin by Yongli. The main force in Sichuan and Hubei was also composed of former officers and soldiers of the Roaming Troops, who had accepted titles and official positions from the Ming court.

  At the time of winter's arrival, the Yongli court was already in a precarious situation. Wu Sangui's army marched from north to south through Sichuan, intending to destroy the Southern Ming regime in Kunming at one stroke. In order to support the resistance of King Jin Li Dingguo, the Ming army in Sichuan mobilized fully and attacked Chongqing with all its might, trying to relieve the pressure on Yunnan.

  Yuán Zōng Dì, the Duke of Great Ming's Jingguo, led his troops to rush to the foot of Chongqing City this afternoon and joined forces with General Tán Wén, who had arrived earlier. Yuán Zōng Dì was a former subordinate of Lǐ Zì Chéng, while Tán Wén had always been a government general of the Ming Dynasty and was now enfeoffed as the Marquis of Fú by Yǒng Lì.

  Just after finishing the busy work of settling down, someone came to report that a person with unknown origin was found. The people below did not know how to deal with it, and asked Duke Jingguo to make a decision.

  "A person with unknown origins?" Yuan Zongdi heard this and was quite perplexed. If someone's origins are unknown, just ask, if not, punish them and wait for their confession. If such trivial matters also need to be asked of him, Yuan Zongdi felt that he would absolutely be too busy.

  "The imperial court forgives his crime, but this person is indeed suspicious everywhere." The reporting officer said that the man of unknown origin claimed to be named E Sheng, and when asked, he insisted that he had amnesia and did not remember his origins or experiences. He only remembered his name and that he was from Northern Zhili. The scout who discovered E Sheng reported that from his speech, it could be seen that he had a deep affection for the Ming dynasty. According to the officer's observation, he didn't seem like a Tartar spy either, and was probably a scholar or literary man, so he reported it to Yuan Zongdi here.

  Yuan Zongdi couldn't help but feel a little curious after hearing the officer's account of the cause and effect, and said: "Since this person can utter the words 'Da Ming' and shave his head on his own, he is probably thinking of surrendering to our army. But why does he claim to have amnesia?"

  As the Ming army's military situation worsened, it had been many days since any civilians dared to defect from the Qing army to join the Ming army. Yuan Zongdi and the officer who interrogated Yu Shi thought similarly: if the other party was indeed a rare righteous warrior who came to surrender, using torture to extract information would be inappropriate; it would be better to ask with a gentle smile. Yuan Zongdi thought to himself: "There are too few literate people here, and even fewer have come to join me in recent years."

  Yuan Zongdi then ordered that Ju Xing be brought before him, and the officer went off to carry out his orders.

  There were two young guards beside Yuan Zongdi at this moment. One was named Zhou Kaihuang, whose father had followed Yuan Zongdi for many years and later died in a war with the Qing army. The other was named Zhao Tianba, who was originally from Zhang Xianzhong's Western Camp and came to Sichuan Ming Army as an envoy of Jin Wang Li Dingguo this time. Yuan Zongdi had a good impression of Zhao Tianba, thinking that this young man was very humble. Moreover, Yuan Zongdi also needed to maintain a good relationship with the court in Yunnan, so he always kept him by his side.

  "If it's really a scholar who has come to offer his services, then I will naturally treat him with courtesy." Before the visitor was brought in, Yuan Zongdi had already made up his mind.

  After being led into the tent, Xing Ming felt a wave of panic. Because he was completely ignorant of the current political situation, he could only respond to the questioning of the Ming army officer with "I've forgotten everything". Now looking at the three people in front of him, Xing Ming's heart kept pounding, feeling that he might not be able to get through this ordeal.

  "How dare you be so rude!" The four people inside the tent looked at each other for a long time, and Zhou Kaihuang was the first to lose his temper, glaring and shouting: "How dare you not pay respects to Duke Jingguo?"

  Xu Ming was clueless about how to pay respects in the Ming dynasty. He guessed that in China's feudal dynasties, ordinary people might need to kneel and kowtow when facing a general, but he had no idea what the specifics or rules were. Xu Ming vaguely remembered reading somewhere that scholars in the Ming dynasty didn't have to bow when meeting officials. When the military officer asked him earlier if he was a scholar, Xu Ming gave a vague answer. Now, he decided to pretend all the way and hope to bluff his way through, so he made a deep bow: "I've seen the Duke."

  Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba furrowed their brows at the same time. This courtesy was not in line with etiquette, and Xu Ming had not reported any self-proclaimed titles either.

  However, Yuan Zongdi appeared very magnanimous and seemed completely unaffected by Deng's arrogance. On the contrary, he smiled and said: "Mr. Deng, please take a seat."

  Xu Ming glanced around the tent and walked over to a nearby chair to sit down: "Thank you... oh, thank you, Duke Guo."

  Zhou Kai's fists clenched involuntarily, waiting for Yuan Zong's first order to drag this arrogant and rude madman out of the camp and beat him up. However, looking at Yuan Zong today, his mood seemed to be unusually good, ignoring Yu Shi's various rudeness and chatting with him with a smile.

  As the officer said, as long as it involves birth, parents, and family name, Yu Xing would generally respond with amnesia. Yuan Zongdi did not pursue the matter further but instead changed the subject: "Now that our lord has received a clear order from the imperial court to attack the rebels in Chongqing, does Mr. Deng have any good strategy to teach me?"

  "What is the imperial court's edict?" Yu Ming's face couldn't hide his confusion. He didn't expect to encounter Ming troops in Sichuan during the Qing dynasty's Shunzhi era, and it was already astonishing enough that the Ming court was still issuing orders. He dared not probe deeper into their background, but muttered to himself: "The imperial court they're referring to is probably Yongli's court? I wonder how many more years this court can last? It should be on its last legs!"

  "Yes, Wu Zong led his army to invade the capital, and King Jin wanted you to capture Chongqing in order to cut off Wu Zong's retreat..."

  Zhou Kai confirmed that Yuan Zongdi's mood today was unusually good, and he even began to tell this mysterious person about military affairs. Last year, Sun Keshuang, a former member of the Western Camp, surrendered to the Qing court. After learning the details of Yunnan and Guizhou from Sun Keshuang, the Qing court decided to launch a general attack on Yunnan, appointing Wu Sangui, who had also surrendered to the Qing court, as the commander-in-chief of the army. The troops marched out of Hanzhong, passed through Chongqing, and pressed straight into Yunnan and Guizhou. At the same time, the Qing army in Huguang and Jiangxi also advanced westward under the leadership of Hong Chengchou to support Wu Sangui.

  Zhao Tianba came for this purpose, and he disguised himself to rush to Badong, contacting the former Dashun Army who insisted on resisting here, letting them cut off the Yangtze River transportation, preventing the Qing court from transporting grain and grass for Wu Sangui through the Yangtze River. However, this goal is not easy to achieve, the Qing court has mobilized a large number of ships from Nan Zhili, Jiangxi and other places, each grain transport fleet has heavy troops protection, the weak Sichuan Ming army water division although has home field advantage, but it's hard to completely cut off the transportation.

  As a result, the Ming army leaders thought that the effective way was to attack Chongqing. After all, only the port of Chongqing could accommodate so many ships, and there were also large warehouses and good roads. In July, the Ming army tried to attack Chongqing once, but Wu Sangui, who had already arrived in Zunyi, heard the news and led his troops back to defeat the Ming army. After hearing that Wu Sangui attacked Yunnan through Zunyi last month, the Sichuan and Hubei Ming armies mobilized again, planning to launch another strong attack on Chongqing. Yuan Zongdi and Tan Wen were the vanguard of this attack on Chongqing, and Li Laiheng, Liu Tichen, Hao Yaqi and others were also on their way to Chongqing.

  After listening to Yuan Zongdi for a while, Yu Ming gained some understanding of the current situation. He thought that the "Wu Zei" mentioned by the other party might be Wu Sangui, because this guy was really too famous. However, another repeatedly mentioned "Jin Wang", Yu Ming heard it somewhat vaguely.

  "Wu Ze Wu Sangui." After saying this name, he found that the person in front of him had a normal expression, and he knew he hadn't guessed wrong. Then he suddenly thought of the famous Li Dingguo, although he wasn't very clear about Ming history, but still knew that this great hero was the last defender of the Ming court.

  "Could Li Dingguo's title be King of Jin?" Yu Xiang thought to himself, the prospects for the Ming army didn't look good, and this large-scale military action would likely end in defeat. It was Wu Sangui's attack that destroyed the Yongli court in history. He wanted to test his own conjecture, so he hypocritically agreed with Yuan Zongdi: "Li, King of Jin, is divine and martial, and will surely greatly defeat the Wu bandits!"

  "Mr. Deng is absolutely right." Yuan Zongdi burst out laughing, he seemed more satisfied with Deng's answer.

  Xu Ming saw that his guess was accurate and did not reveal any flaws, and his words also pleased the other party, he was overjoyed and didn't notice at all that Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianbiao on both sides of Yuan Zongdi were slightly frowning: a mysterious commoner, dared to add his surname before the title when addressing the prince.

  After chatting for a few more sentences, Yuan Zongdi suddenly asked with a smile: "Mr. Deng hasn't had dinner yet, I presume?"

  It's no wonder that Xu Ming has been starving for two days, and this afternoon he tried to learn how to identify edible mushrooms on his own, unfortunately without success, or rather he hasn't gotten hungry enough to dare eat those mushrooms.

  "Someone, please tell Mr. Deng to go to the back account for dinner." The Grand General of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Zongdi, loudly called out to the guards, not waiting for Deng's thanks. Yuan Zongdi glanced at the strange and ancient clothes on Deng's body and added a sentence: "Mr. can take a bath before dinner."

  Xu Ming walked out of Yuan Zongdi's camp, feeling extremely fortunate that he had managed to bluff his way through. Earlier, when the Ming army officer had questioned him and left him speechless, Xu Ming had worried that his life was in danger. If the other side had used torture, he would have been absolutely unable to withstand it. Even if Xu Ming had confessed everything about his true circumstances from hundreds of years later, the other side would still have thought he was talking nonsense, and might have even taken him for a Qing dynasty spy and tortured him to death.

  "At this moment, it's really great to be a bookworm," the joy of escaping death made Wei Ming feel dizzy, and when he followed the guard to take a bath and eat, he couldn't help but think in his heart: "Fortunately, I was quick-witted and pretended to be a scholar. People in ancient times respected their teachers and valued morality, they saw me speaking eloquently and not kowtowing to officials, most likely thinking I'm a scholar... Moreover, who says ancient people didn't care about hygiene? Doesn't this also show that bathing and eating are equally important? Unexpectedly, they even arranged for me to take a bath!"

  After Xū Míng left, Zhōu Kāi Huāng and Zhao Tiān Bà turned their attention to Yuán Zōng Dì, who collected his smile, stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

  "Such an insolent madman," Zhou Kaihuang, as Yuan Zongdi's personal guard, finally spoke up after waiting for a while and asked: "Why doesn't the Duke punish him severely?"

  "Overbearing and unbridled, disregarding the distinction between superior and inferior, showing no respect to the King of Jin or Duke Wen, he should be dragged out and beaten to death with rods." Yuan Zongdi said in a deep voice.

  Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba both remained silent. From their expressions, it was clear that Yuan Zongdi had spoken the truth, but they couldn't understand why he was being so lenient with a stranger today.

  "If it were someone else, of course!" Although the visitor was no longer in the account, Yuan Zongdi still used a respectful title: "But this Deng... Mr. Deng, I think he might be a member of the imperial clan."

  "Your Highness!"

  Zhou Kaihuang shouted in surprise, and although Zhao Tianba was able to remain calm, his face also couldn't hide a look of astonishment.

  "Ever since the bandits invaded, most of the Ming dynasty's imperial family members have been hiding their identities and keeping a low profile. In these chaotic times, no one dares to run around recklessly, so it's almost impossible for us to encounter an imperial family member." Yuan Zongdi voiced the doubts that Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba had at this moment, he also had similar questions: "However, which of you two recognizes the fabric of his clothes?"

  Zhou Kaihuang admitted that he didn't recognize him. Zhao Tianba thought for a moment and also shook his head, saying: "Please enlighten me, Your Excellency."

  Yuan Zongdi was a high-ranking general under Li Zicheng at the time, and he was by Li's side when Li captured Fu Wang in Luoyang and Qin Wang in Xi'an. After the establishment of the Great Shun dynasty, Yuan became an even more prominent general. Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianbiao both knew that Yuan Zongdi had seen a lot and recognized many things, so they might have realized that this was something used by royalty or nobility.

  Yuan Zongdi also shook his head and said, "I don't recognize it either. Even in the palaces of the Fu King and Qin King, I have never seen such exquisite fabrics."

  "...things that even the imperial family had never seen before..." As they thought of this, Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba exchanged a glance, both seeing in each other's eyes the same shock that was in their own hearts.

  Yuan Zongdi glanced at Zhao Tianba, knowing that he would eventually report to the imperial court and Emperor Yongli, so it was pointless to hide from him. Besides, he also needed Zhao Tianba as a witness: "Have you noticed his teeth and appearance?"

  Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang exchanged another glance upon hearing this. The guy who claimed to be Yu Xing was undoubtedly a refined scholar, not resembling the pale and thin appearance of someone from a poor family. However, as for their teeth, neither of them had particularly noticed anything unusual.

  His teeth were extremely neat, without any discrepancy. Yuan Zongdi sighed slightly in his heart, Zhou Kaihuang was a young man who was intelligent, but after all, he had not traveled far and had seen too few people of various colors, and his observation skills had not been exercised at all. After Deng's arrival earlier, Yuan Zongdi exchanged only a few words with him before discovering that the other's teeth were not only neat but also very white, without any missing or protruding ones, completely unlike those of ordinary people: "You said it right, this Mr. Deng looks like he has always had enough to eat and wear, never lacking in food or clothing. Do you know how such teeth and facial features are acquired?"

  Two young men could not answer.

  "From a young age, they only ate fine grains, excluding white flour and rice, and when it came to meat, they only ate the flesh without gnawing on bones. Only then could they have such snow-white teeth and lustrous skin. Probably only the children of extremely wealthy families, who were raised with luxury and had doctors and servants by their side from a young age, could possess such beauty. Even the sons of ordinary rich families might find it difficult to achieve this." Yuan Zongdi let out a soft sigh: "If not for the imperial family, how could one have such wealth and nobility?"

  Yuan Zongdi called over the guards and first instructed them to prepare food for the new arrivals today. After some thought, he added: "Give Mr. Deng some meat dishes, just chop up a piece of pork leg, but remember to remove most of the meat, just leave a little bit on the bone."

  A soldier came in to report that hot water had been prepared for Yu Sheng, and he had gone to take a bath. The soldiers followed Yuan Zongdi's order and took the opportunity to bring Yu Sheng's clothes over.

  Yuan Zongdi took over the outerwear of Xu Ming's name, shook it a few times, and found that it was a cotton-padded jacket. The inside and outside of the cotton-padded jacket were smooth, with several pockets sewn on the body, but unlike ordinary cotton-padded jackets, there was also a cotton hat sewn on it. He was shocked again in his heart: "It looks quite thick, but it's so light and soft?"

  After a moment's thought, Yuan Zongdi used this garment to pad his palm and grasped the treasure sword at his waist - he couldn't feel the icy coldness of the sword at all.

  "What is this fabric? It feels like silk, but it's not. It's much lighter than a cotton-padded jacket, yet it's very warm. I've never heard of anything like it." Yuan Zongdi handed the clothes to Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Tianba, letting them take a look too. The two young men were even more baffled, touching and pinching it several times, their minds filled with wonder. They had no idea that in the era when Yu Ming lived, this was just an ordinary down jacket."

  The soldier also brought back a pair of travel shoes belonging to Eugene. When speaking with Eugene, Yuan Zongdi had been secretly guessing what kind of boots the other was wearing on his feet, but he couldn't make it out after all. At this time, Da Ming Jingguo Gong and his two bodyguards studied Eugene's stinky shoes, but after studying for a while, they couldn't figure out the shoe surface and sole of these strange shoes.

  "It should be a member of the royal family without a doubt." After seeing these exquisite clothes, Zhou Kaihuang also agreed with Yuan Zongdi's judgment: "But I don't know which prince's son it is."

  "No rush, we can ask slowly after capturing Chongqing." Since he judged the other party to be a member of the royal family, Yuan Zongdi did not plan to urge him: "This Deng... this young prince is not someone who doesn't understand superior and inferior relationships, nor is he lacking in etiquette. Perhaps, in his heart, he feels that he is the superior one."

  "Could there be something in his clothes?" Zhao Tianba suggested searching through Xu Ming's pockets.

  "There won't be anything, in such a chaotic world, who would carry something that reveals their identity?" Yuan Zongdi thought based on his own experience. Since the Qing court's search and massacre of the Ming dynasty's close relatives, all the descendants of the imperial family had been hiding their names and fleeing. It was natural that Eming wouldn't be an exception. But as soon as he spoke, Yuan Zongdi became uncertain again. The feeling Eming gave him earlier didn't seem like someone who knew how to conceal himself, his expression and movements all showed a young man's naivety.

  "Could it be that this young master originally had loyal attendants following and protecting him, but now all the people who were following him have dispersed, leaving only this young master to escape alone?" Yuan Zongdi wondered for a moment, and finally still reached out to touch the pocket of his down jacket to see if there was any unexpected gain.

  As a result, there was an unexpected gain, and Yuan Zongdi stretched out his hand and touched a string of pearls.

  After seeing this string of pearls, Yuan Zong's throat tightened and he involuntarily swallowed a large mouthful of saliva.

  Yuan Zongdi had not followed Li Zicheng to attack Beijing, but he had also seen the treasures in the palace. Li Zicheng had once solemnly given him a string of pearls from the palace. Yuan Zongdi planned to pass on that string of pearls as a family heirloom for generations to come. But compared to this string of pearls in front of him, his own string was inferior.

  Pearl is a grain of sand that enters the oyster shell, and the oyster feels uncomfortable, so it constantly wraps the sand with a secretion, and over time forms a crystal-like pearl. Most naturally generated pearls are not very round, slightly protruding, due to the sand grains. Therefore, large and round pearls are rarely seen, and one grain can be considered a treasure.

  By the time of Xu Ming's birth, there were technologies for cultivating pearls and creating artificial pearls. Artificial pearls are made by mixing resin, fillers, and other materials to form a semi-solid material, which is then heated, coated with a metal film, pressed, coated with pearl powder, and finally spray-painted to create an artificial pearl that shines like a natural one. The string of pearls in Xu Ming's pocket was just such a string of artificial pearls - large, pure in color, and flawless. This string of pearls was something Xu Ming had put in his pocket as a prop for painting.

  "What is this?" Zhou Kaihuang didn't recognize the object at all.

  "This is a pearl." Yuan Zongdi muttered to himself.

  "This is a pearl!" Zhou Kaihuang was extremely excited and carefully approached: "I must take a good look!"

  "Who would have thought that pearls could be so beautiful." Yuan Zongdi's voice was low and filled with emotion. He gently turned the pearl over several times, without a single yellow spot, holding it in his hand to reflect his face, he could clearly see his features.

  Yuan Zongdi realized that Zhao Tianba didn't say a word, so he turned his head and handed the pearl to him: "This is the pearl."

  "Biao Xia was indeed familiar with this object. At the time of King Jin's eldest son's grand wedding, the Emperor bestowed upon him a string of precious pearls, and Biao Xia had once had the chance to see them."

  "No wonder Brother Zhao is not interested," Zhou Kaihuang heard the emperor's gift today and naturally chimed in, "It must be a hundred times more brilliant than this pearl."

  Zhao Tianba's family also had a string of pearls. His father was an old general from Xiyue, and when he was young, he saw his father with a string of pearls that were rarely shown to others. His father mysteriously told him that they came from the Shu Wangfu. The string of pearls was slightly yellowish, irregular in size, and not perfectly round, but his father said this was normal for such a rare treasure. At the grand wedding of the Jin Wang's son, where he showed off the precious pearls bestowed by the emperor, Zhao Tianba happened to catch a glimpse of them, and although they were bigger and whiter than his father's treasured string, the pearls themselves weren't perfectly round either.

  After hearing Zhou Kaihuang's words, Zhao Tianba shook his head repeatedly: "How is that possible? These pearls are all round and clean, they don't seem to be from this world. The string of pearls belonging to the Jin Wang's son can't compare with these at all. Not only are these pearls big and shiny, but also surprisingly uniform in size, just like they were made from the same mold. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, how could I believe that such a thing exists in this world?!"

  "This is also too exaggerated, right?"

  "Without exaggeration," Yuan Zongdi said in a low voice: "What Zhao Qianhu said is not wrong, and I also cannot believe that this thing actually belongs to the human world."

  In the era without cultured pearls, it was rare to have large pearls. In history, the Russian tsar had searched globally and bought some spherical pure white pearls of basically the same size, making a pearl crown, which was considered priceless by various countries at that time. Now a string of equally graded treasures is in front of Yuan Zongdi.

  "Such a treasure, it's casually placed in this pocket, without any wrapping." Yuan Zongdi carefully picked up the string of pearls and put them back into the down jacket's pocket.

  The camp fell silent for a long time, and then Yuan Zongdi's voice rang out again: "I heard that the Crown Prince Lie is missing."

  The Empress Zhou of the Chongzhen Emperor gave birth to three sons, but Yuan Zongdi heard that all three princes had lost their traces. After seeing the pearl, he thought of this legend and suspected it. Having met someone like Yu Ming, he must report to the Yongli Emperor and the court, and there must be a name for it.

  "This doesn't seem right," Zhao Tianba said hesitantly.

  "What about the second prince?"

  "It seems still a bit small."

  "What about the Third Prince?" Yuan Zongdi was relentless.

  "It seems..." Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang both thought that even if he was the third son of Emperor Chongzhen, he should be around thirty years old now, but Yu Ming looked like he was only in his early twenties. After seeing the pearl, neither of them had any ideas, and Zhao Tianba said uncertainly: "The imperial family is raised with luxury and comfort, so it's possible that they look younger than their age. Maybe the third prince was only four or five years old during the Jia Shen year? It was a time of war and chaos, and even the servants couldn't keep track of things clearly."

  "It's almost certain." Yuan Zong said as he ordered someone to return Yu Xiang's clothes.

  Xu Ming had always felt that his clothes were too eye-catching in this era, so he happily changed into the new clothes provided by the Ming army and packed up his old clothes.

  The food given to Xue Ming was a piece of mixed grain cake and a bone stick. Xue Ming had been starving for a long time, and in the blink of an eye, he stuffed the cake into his stomach. The meaty bone was even more tempting to Xue Ming, and he gnawed at the tendons and muscles on it until they were spotless and shiny, not leaving a single thread of meat behind before reluctantly putting it down.

  The accompanying Ming army soldier patiently waited for Xu Ming to finish eating, then told him that the Duke of Jingguo was busy with official duties tonight and asked him to rest early. Xu Ming felt a stone in his heart fall to the ground when he heard this, thinking that if they talked too frequently, he would likely reveal his true identity. Following the Ming army soldier to the camp assigned to him, Xu Ming lay down and thought anxiously, recalling the stories of Ming dynasty officials he had seen before and considering how he would interact with the Ming military leaders in the future.

  At the same time, Yuan Zongdi was examining the leftover leg bone that his subordinates had brought to him. Looking at the smooth but intact hind leg bone, Yuan Zongdi hummed in dissatisfaction and regret: "Still pretending! What era is this? Still pretending, not even cracking open the marrow to eat it, what a pity, what a pity."

  After some careful consideration, Yuan Zongdi determined that when Yu Minghe escaped from the imperial palace, he had a group of loyal guards and eunuchs by his side. Therefore, over the years, they never suffered hardship. These loyal servants also brought a considerable amount of treasure to ensure that Yu Minghe was always well-fed and clothed. Recently, something unexpected happened, most likely being discovered by the Qing court, so the guards dispersed, and when he arrived near Chongqing, his last remaining followers either scattered or sacrificed themselves.

  People like Yuan Zongdi, who emerged from the military camps, are filled with worries about their future. Even if they drive out the Qing dynasty and revive the Ming dynasty, it is still unknown how the emperor will treat them, these old generals of the military camps. For example, Hao Yaoqi found an East An Wang and treated him like a precious treasure, just to have someone from the Zhu family speak for him in the future if the Ming dynasty were to be revived. The Han Wang, who escaped from Shanxi to Huguang, was flattered by many generals (all former subordinates of the military camps), including Yuan Zongdi, and collectively petitioned the court to ask the Han Wang to stay with the Ming army in Sichuan and Hubei. What Yuan Zongdi and others hoped for was also to establish a good relationship with the noble prince, so that if the Ming court were to settle accounts after autumn, they would not be left without anyone speaking for them.

  Over the years, Yuan Zongdi's relationship with the Han King was not very close, and he also wanted to find a clan child to be his talisman. Unfortunately, he couldn't find one. Now, suddenly, an unexpected name appeared in front of him. Not to mention that even Hao Yaoqi's protected Dong'an King was far inferior, let alone the Han King who was flattered by many generals. This was no less than a great joy for Yuan Zongdi.

  He then fell into deep thought: "Why did the third prince have to be named this? Deng Ming, or is it Dengming? The great treasure of Dengming? Or is it Mingdeng? To ascend to the throne tomorrow? To clearly and obviously ascend to the throne? Or is it a bright lamp? A lamp of great brightness, illuminating all under heaven? What profound meaning does this name hold?"